CALVERTON — Once a student walks into Ashley Richmond’s classroom at Calverton Elementary School, they are instantly family.

“These students are not just students, its almost like they’re my kids. So I have such a relationship with them that we’re doing things on the weekends – whole family events,” she said. “I’m making sure that it's not isolated. We’re a family. We’re a community. This is what we are, and they need to know we love them.”

Richmond builds her classroom dynamic around trust, love and caring about everyone in the room. The fourth-grade teacher shares stories of her life – about her dog getting out of the house and more – to create an atmosphere where students can share their struggles and joys.

“I feel they put more of an effort into it if you show you care more,” she said. “You’re not just a teacher. You’re a counselor. You’re a friend. You’re a shoulder to cry on.”

Richmond has always had a passion for mentorship, and it is what ultimately led her to education. She started her secondary education in a vocational school seeking certification in plumbing but realized that while she liked the work, she enjoyed helping others learn more.

Then her sister became pregnant, and Richmond started to help raise her nephew. It was through that experience she found her path to education.

“If my sister hadn’t had him, I would have probably never figured out that this is where my passion is,” Richmond said.

Growing up in Baltimore, she said she was often told she was not good enough, that she was never going to amount to anything, but she always had her grandmother championing for her. Now, as an educator, she wants to emulate her grandma and encourage her students to chase their dreams.

Her goals, she said are to give her students confidence, passion and a love for learning to help mold them into young adults.

“I want to see them love learning. If they don’t love learning, how are they going to grow? How are we going to ask them to respect each other or respect us,” she said.

She is also busy beyond the classroom, where she is not only teaching fourth-grade students but also English as a second language and talented and gifted students. She is a writing fundamental teacher, a mentor teacher, on the bullying prevention team, writes science curriculum and leads professional development. Richmond helps with Side by Side, the school safety committee, the parent action committee and SOAR, the after-school Title I program. She also leads three different Girl Scout troops and hosts an after-school home economics class.

UPPER MARLBORO – A decision by a U.S. Appeals Court will allow construction on the Purple Line to continue.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided in a ruling by a three-judge panel on Dec. 19 that federal and state agencies fulfilled their due diligence in analyzing how the light-rail project would be affected by ongoing problems at Metro and reversed a district court order for a new environmental impact study. The nonprofit Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail and two residents sued Maryland and federal transit officials in August 2014, trying to block the project on environmental grounds.“Requiring more detail on requiring more detail on rejected alternatives would elevate form over function,” Judge Judith Rogers wrote in the opinion. “The process undertaken fulfilled (the National Environmental Policy Act’s) purpose to identify and analyze project alternatives, to make that analysis available for public comment, and to respond to those comments in a manner that explained the preferred alternative, thereby promoting reasoned, well-considered decision making.”Officials broke ground on the Purple Line in August. The 16-mile 21-stop light rail will run between New Carrollton and Bethesda and cost about $5.6 billion.Officials expect the project to be completed in 2022.“We view (the ruling) as just opening the door to really focus on the work that we’ve been focused on, and we view this as a real pivotal moment,” said Kim Ross, Project Director with the Purple Line Corridor Coalition. “With the Purple Line construction underway, it’s really time to take steps now to make sure we capture the benefits of this massive transit investment for the communities along the line.”Ross said the Purple Line might help grow the labor market along the corridor. Now that the appeals court has made its decision, she said officials can continue focusing on how to leverage these opportunities and prepare for the coming changes.“We want to encourage a real strategic thinking, short-term and long-term, looking at what sectors might grow and how to prepare for that,” she said.In November, county leaders signed an agreement to protect local housing communities and small businesses along the Purple Line corridor. The deal is not legally binding.Gregory Sanders, vice president of the board of directors for the coalition group Purple Line NOW!, said the organization was “excited about the (court’s) ruling.....It was pretty much everything we’d hoped for.”He said now that the court has determined the project can move forward without further study, the focus can soon be on “making sure we get the best Purple Line.”“It’s been a long, strange journey,” Sanders said. “We’re glad we can get to the point where it’s full speed ahead and get the benefits to future riders.”Ajay Bhatt, president of the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, described the ruling as “a sad loss for the (Capital Crescent) Trail” and “a loss for transit, not only in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County but the entire region.”A portion of the Capital Crescent Trail in Montgomery County closed in September for Purple Line construction.“Sustainability is about maximizing your existing resources, not about building brand-new for the sake of building brand-new, because you automatically assume that things are just going to happen because you build something brand-new,” Bhatt said. “When we talk about an environmental impact statement, it’s not just what is it going to do to the immediate 16-mile corridor, with regards to how many trees are going to come down, but it’s a matter of looking at this from a holistic view.”He further believes with constant new development in transportation, the Purple Line will likely be outdated within the first few years of its opening and therefore not worth the hefty cost.“If we’re going to spend $6 billion on transit, shouldn’t it be on making transit accessible for everyone in Maryland, not just in the 16-mile corridor?” Bhatt said.He said the organization is “reviewing our legal options”before moving forward.

HYATTSVILLE - Hyattsville has been keeping busy over the last few months and not everything makes the paper. Here are some updates and stories not previously covered.

Keeping Up With the Audits

Hyattsville City Treasurer Ron Brooks believes everything is on track with the fiscal year 2016 audit and said the reviews and analysis in the audit would be closed by the last week of December. “We’re in pretty good shape,” he said, noting that his team has hit the milestones he set at a good pace. He hopes to complete the financial statements by the second week of January and start work on the fiscal year 2017 audit the following week. The 2015 audit was filed in November. Finishing the fiscal year 2017 audit will put the city back on track, Brooks said, after working his way through a several-year backlog.

Place Making Funds

On Nov. 6 the Hyattsville City Council voted to move funds around in the capital improvements budget to allow the Hyatt Park Place Making Project to move forward. The move created $325,000 in funds for the project while eliminating $1.5 million from the department of public works renovation fund. The city also anticipates a $75,000 grant to help fund the project. In the agenda item report to the council, Brooks said the move was because “other projects have come forward for consideration and the previously approved (capital improvements) appropriations need to be adjusted.”The council approved the change, and the vote essentially shifted the city’s available resources to make those other projects possible. Mayor Candace Hollingsworth said the city would plan public engagement session on the place making project soon.

Recertifying the Force

The Hyattsville City Police Department is up for Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) recertification, and, although official word on the matter will not come until mid-2018, the police department has already undergone the assessment. Over the final months of 2017, the police department welcomed two assessors to analyze the department on more than 600 individual points, hundreds of standards and through a public input session. The police department had only two areas of interest that the assessors felt needed improvement: the first is a missed audit, while the second is adherence to an active threat policy. The police chief will now travel to a CALEA conference in March to finish the final part of the recertification process.

Meeting for Short-Terms

Short-term rentals will be at the forefront of the city’s code compliance committee after the city council voted to direct the committee to make rentals it’s number one agenda item for the next six meetings. The move came after the committee sent a letter to the council asking for the go-ahead to dedicate time to the issue. The letter, dated Oct. 24, said the committee had previously discussed the “emerging trend of short-term rentals” and any impact they could have on the city. Previously, the city had considered short-term rental regulations and the committee requested the six meeting period to discuss the merits of the city adopting regulations on such rentals.The letter said the committee would conclude deliberations sometime in May and then report to the city council on any findings in June. Before any action is taken, the committee asked for public input on the issue as well.

Just One More Station

Phase one of the Capital Bikeshare county rollout is scheduled to start this spring, but the city of Hyattsville worries the planned initial eight stations will not be enough. On Dec. 18 the city council began discussion of possibly paying for one additional bikeshare station.Jim Chandler, the assistant city administrator, told the council they could use the funds set aside in the budget for the Capital Bikeshare implementation, approximately $83,000 in capital improvements funds, to purchase a single additional station at around $50,000. The county department of public works, which is overseeing the bikeshare rollout, told Hyattsville an additional station would have to be funded through the city, though Chandler said he is not sure if an additional station would be in the first phase or second phase of the project. City staff hinted at two possible locations for the additional station, in Northern Hyattsville or another station on Route 1, but Chandler said if the city wants the station, they can decide on location at another time. The council voted to move the measure forward.

Updating the Zone

Before December two schools in the city of Hyattsville did not have formal school zones, according to city code. The city council voted to change that during their Dec. 18 meeting after Councilwoman Erica Spell introduced and update to the city code.

Spell noted that both Edward M. Felegy Elementary School and the Chelsea School did not have formal school zones, while there were also two outdated school zones on record. The school zone ordinance will establish both the school location and streets within a half-mile radius as school zones. There are currently 11 school zones in the city and that number will remain unchanged as two zones will be eliminated while two will be added.